Way Back When
by HolliWasHere
Summary: Ellie works at Stark Industries as Tony's Personal assistant. Her life is going all peachy until she runs into a certain someone.
1. Chapter 1

Ellie dropped the last cardboard box on the living room floor and dusted off her hands. She looked around the room and let out a relieved sigh. Finally the moving was complete! The apartment come already furnished; so now all she had to do was unpack all of her personal items, maybe spruce it up with a painting or two. But that could all wait until later, right now she wanted nothing more than a drink and to sit down.

She was exhausted from rearranging the furniture to her liking. Not to mention the elevator wasn't working, that meant so many trips up and down those stairs with heavy boxes. There was also the Stark interview, which was stressful in itself. Apparently Stark Industries was hiring a new personal assistant for Mr Stark. Ellie had taken a chance and applied for the job. She never expected to get an interview let alone the job. She had no previous experience with being an assistant or working in such a large company. The interview itself went quite smoothly. Ms Potts had taken the interview and ran through some scenarios as well as some general questions. At the end of the interview she gave Ellie the job as well as Mr Stark's personal timetable and some other info to start with. She thought there was going to be a lot more to it than that.  
Ellie was excited. Her plans for a new start were going smoothly and to have the opportunity to work with a company such as Starks was amazing.

"Cheers to a new beginning" Ellie raised the beer, " Hopefully it's better than the last o-" Her toast was interrupted by the sound of her stomach trying to eat itself. She grabbed the take out menu from the table and ordered dinner.

/

Hopefully one day they will fix that elevator, but until then these calves will get a full work out. She finally reached the sixth floor a little out of breath, the thoughts of finding a local gym entered her mind.

" _Maybe if I get this job with Stark Industries they'll have their own gym or I'll be able to afford the delivery fee._ " She chuckled to herself. She opened up the bag to see if they had forgotten any of her order. She got to her door and pushed it open walking inside. She dumped her keys onto the table by the door and flicked the dead bolt. She took three steps into her house when it hit her. She had just pushed the door open, didn't she lock that when she left? She was sure she locked it. She heard the floor creak behind her but before she could move there was already a hand around her mouth and a strong scent stinging her nostrils. She tried to struggle, to grab the intruder or scratch them, that way if she wound up dead they would at least have their DNA. But her arms grew heavy and she struggled to keep her eyes open. Then nothing but darkness.

As she came to she had a strong pulsating pain behind her eyes that made it hard to concentrate. It took her a while to focus on the room she was in, or place. It was more of a run down warehouse. Broken windows, broken beams and floorboards above her. She was tied to chair, typical. She tried pulling on her restraints but these people knew their knots, nothing worse then getting abducted by former boy scouts. She then noticed the men, dressed all in black like you would expect a burglar to wear. The men were facing away from her talking amongst themselves. One of them turned and made eye contact motioning to the man beside him that she was now awake. The man she presumed was the leader turned around and made her way towards her. Ellie eyes him down as he crouched down in front of her.

"I'm going to be very straight with you. You have information regarding a certain person of interest. You tell us this information and we let you go. If you don't tell us, we will try to persuade you, and we can be very persuasive." He said hand slowly sliding up her thigh. Ellie narrowed her eyes at him and moved leg away from his touch, or rather tried to move as much as the restraints would allow her. He chuckled standing up and circling around her.

"And if the persuasion doesn't work, well…" Something cold and metallic was placed on her temple and the sound of a cocking gun echoed through the warehouse. "We'll just kill you. Understood?" Ellie nodded. "Good." He moved around to stand in front of her again. "It's simple really. All I want to know is the address of Tony Stark's whereabouts tomorrow evening, that's it." Ellie looked up at the man and opened her mouth to speak. "And before you say 'I don't know' I just want you to know that we saw you with Miss Potts today and we know that she would have disclosed this information with you during the course of your job interview."

Ellie clenched her jaw, had they been watching her the whole day? Or longer? "If you tell us this we will cut those restraints and return you safely to your house our selves. You don't have to get involved. No one will know it was you. You can go on living your life like nothing ever happened." Ellie looked up at him. The man smiled down at her

"I am afraid I don't have the information you seek." Ellie replied robotically. The man once again crouched in front of her.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right." He said tilting his head at her.

"I said I don't know. And if I did know, well I certainly wouldn't tell you, as I am not going to help you kill a man. Forgive me I'm nice like that" The man stood up and chuckled.

"You sure you wanna go down the difficult path? Things will be much easier if you just tell me." Ellie just stared past the man, mouth tight lipped. "Sure I can't change your mind?" He lifted the gun up pointing it between her eyes.

"I ain't telling you shit." Ellie replied calmly staring directly at him. The man sighed.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Positive."

"Well then." He pushed the gun against her head and pulled the trigger. Ellie flinched closing her eyes. There was no loud bang, no pain only a hollow click. She waited. She slowly opened her eyes. The man was in front of her smiling. "Congratulations, you pass."

Ellie's mouth hung open. She just stared blankly at the man. "What?"

"Congratulations Miss Harlow, you passed." Came Miss Potts voice from the shadows. The man began to untie her hands and legs from the chair. Ellie rubbed her wrists trying to ease the soreness. The man held out his hand to pull her from the chair.  
"I apologise for all the rough housing Miss Harlow, but you need to understand that the position you are wishing to undertake comes with serious implications and circumstances. Not only do we need someone to keep Tony from missing a meeting, but we also need someone who can keep Tony from falling into the wrong hands."

"Isn't that what the suit's for?"

"Well he can't be Ironman all the time." Pepper replied smiling. "Should have seen the girls that came before you, half of them didn't even last the first question." She handed over a manila folder. "This contains all the details you need to know about your job. If this little scenario hasn't effected your desire for the job, I will see you on Monday 8 o'clock sharp." Pepper said turning around and walking towards the door. "Any questions before I leave?"

"Yeah." Ellie replied. Pepper turned to face her. "How do I get home from here?" She said smiling. Pepper gave a short laugh and gestured towards the man who only minutes before was threatening to kill you.

"David will drop you home. It's going to be a pleasure working with you." And with that Miss Potts walked out of the building with the rest of the men.

"Well, I assume you're David?"

"That would be me, yes." He said taking off the balaclava and ruffling his hair. David was a pretty decent looking guy, not at all what Ellie had expected to see under the balaclava. David packed everything into a duffel bag.

"Can we stop and grab something to eat? You guys kinda took me during dinner." David just laughed.

"Yeah I know a place on the way. I am going to enjoy working with you" David said offering his arm to Ellie. "I hope you are prepared for what you have gotten yourself into." Ellie linked her arm with David's

"How bad can it be?" She asked.

"You think this is bad? You haven't even met Stark yet."

This is my very first fanfic ever! Hope you enjoy. Please let me know what you think. Any criticism or advice that you think I could use would be wonderful!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you to Dingbat for the review! I appreciate it. Thank you to CelticGirl112, Ravenclaw 07, Elizabetch, God4Life, Xx00funsizedxX, stephaniejeanlovestoread and Princess PrettyPants for the favourites and the follows! It means a lot to me!**

 **I forgot to mention this story is sort of AU. It happens after Winter Soldier, and I sorta ignore some plot points that happen in Civil War… :'D hopefully you still enjoy.**

 **I know people hate time jumps, but I'm gonna do it… Sorry.**

 **As always, reviews are nice and make my day :D  
**

 **\- Chapter 2 -**

The harsh beeping of her alarm awoke her from her dream. She would have been upset had it not been for the nature of the dream. Ellie sighed wiping the tears from her eyes and leaned over to turn off the alarm.

"Pull yourself together woman." She muttered.

Sniffling she got up and began to start the morning routine. This consisted of the morning supply of caffeine and picking today's outfit. She made her way to the kitchen and flicked on the kettle. Leaning against the counter she ran her hands through her hair and sighed.

The nightmares hadn't been so bad since she moved in. It was more of a weekly occurrence than a nightly one. Still today wasn't going to be a good one, the lack of decent sleep meant the day was going to last longer. The kettle beeped. She pulled out her favourite cup, and made her tea. While it infused she walked into the bedroom to pick out an outfit. She had been working for Stark Industries now for almost a year and she still hated the work gear. How she longed for casual wear. She grabbed the nearest pencil skirt and a simple polka dotted white blouse preparing for the discomfort of the day.

"This is gonna have to do." She laid out her clothes on the bed and headed back into the kitchen to drink her tea.

She opened her laptop on the kitchen counter to check her emails. Just the usual reminders for meetings and deadlines. There was a message from Pepper. Great Tony was apparently hung over today. That meant she had to leave early to stop off at the bakery to grab a cinnamon roll and one of those smiley face cookies. She loved working for Tony Stark, but gosh that man was difficult.

She reached over and grabbed her planner. She doubled checked that the meetings all matched up. It was funny, she wasn't usually so organised, in fact she had never been organised in her life. You could tell by the cardboard boxes that still littered the apartment. She didn't want to take them out just yet.

Today should be simple. There were no external meetings, only a few with the board spread throughout the day. Those meetings were so boring and she generally had no idea what they were talking about. She finished her tea and closed her laptop. Tony was going to pay for making her leave early today. She hadn't had a decent sleep and now didn't have enough time for breakfast, she would have to grab something from the bakery. She walked into her bedroom and got dressed, brushed her teeth and arranged her hair to look somewhat professional. She practiced her business face in the mirror. It was a mix between boredom and a death glare. She had it down pat by now. She headed back to the kitchen and put her laptop in her bag and checked her planner one last time. She turned off all the lights then headed down stairs to start her day.

It took her ten minutes to reach the bakery. She was greeted by the wonderful smell of fresh bread and a huge line. She stood at the end of the line and pulled out her phone. She was about to text Talia that she was going to be late but was cut off by someone calling her name.

"Hey Ellie!" she looked around until she saw the teenage boy behind the counter. He was holding up a bag with her name on it. She smiled and walked up to the counter.

"Oh my god Peter you are a life saver!" She said grabbing the bag.

"I know, I am just the best person you ever knew. I'm telling you, you should just marry me now before the other girls catch wind of me." Peter said taking her card off of her.

"You're still a bit too young for me Peter, and slightly illegal. The police won't understand our love."

"We'll find a way." Peter said handing her card back to her.

"Well let me know if you come up with a plan!" Ellie winked as she left the bakery. She was checking the contents of the paper bag when she turned the corner and nearly ran into someone.

"Good morning Miss Harlow!" The man said.

"Oh my god Happy! You scared the shit out of me." Ellie said holding her hand over her heart.

"Talia told me that you were going to be running late. So I came down to pick you up to save you the trouble." He said smiling.

"Have I told you recently that you are amazing and I love you?" Ellie walked towards the car and hoped in the passenger door.

"Meh, I don't think so. You better tell me again." Happy started up the car.

"You are amazing and I love you."

"I know." Happy took off down the street. Ellie relaxed back into the seat of the car and stared out the window. She took in the view of the beautiful blue sky clashing with the tall buildings and the busy people rushing by. Happy pulled up in front of Stark Tower. She reached inside her bag and put on her lanyard that held her id.

"Thank you so much Happy, I owe you one!" Ellie leant across the car and kissed his cheek.

"Just make some loud noises in his office for me and I'll call it even." Happy said as she closed the door.

"Will do." Ellie waved to Happy as he drove off. She turned and faced the daunting tower. There was security everywhere. Since that Hydra attack on the city, Tony had picked up the security around the place. She flashed her badge to the gentleman in front of the metal detector and he waved her through. She turned the corner and headed towards the elevators to see it closing in front of her.

"Shit, HOLD THE ELEVATOR." She said trying to run towards it in her heels. A hand shot out of the elevator and held it open.

"Thank you, thank you. I'm already running late." She said straightening her skirt.

"Not like you to be running late Miss Harlow." Ellie looked up and smiled brightly.

"Clint! What are you doing here!" She said throwing her arms around the man.

"I'm just catching up on the laundry." Ellie punched him in the arm. "Ow ok jeez, just meeting with Nat. She's here today. Gosh, so violent you are! Are all Australians like you? I would expect as much from a bunch of convicts." She hit him again. "I'm sorry!" He held up his hands "It's too early in the morning for this shit. I haven't had my coffee yet."

"You haven't had your coffee yet? Jeez man how are you still standing?" Ellie said in a mockingly serious tone.

"Barely." Ellie held her coffee up in front of him.

"Take mine, there's a coffee machine in the kitchen. I'll make one when I get there." The elevator doors opened and Clint took the coffee.

"You are my favourite prisoner, I love you!" he called walking out of the elevator and disappearing around the corner.

"What a jackass." Ellie laughed as the elevator took off again. When it reached her floor she stepped out and walked fast. As she passed the front desk a woman joined her and handed her some folders.

"These all have to be signed as soon as possible. Also if you could get him to look at these too that would be great. He's been putting it off for days."

"He's hung over Talia, he is not going to want to look at these."

"That's why I made his morning shake for you. Just shove it all in front of him and bail." Talia said handing her a tall glass of some weird green liquid. Ellie smelt it and gagged.

She passes several office pods before reaching her desk in front of Tony's office. Tony's office was a glass room that was slightly raised over the rest so he could see all. She placed her bag on her desk before heading up the few stairs and into Tony's office. All of the blinds had been closed and windows were fogged. As she shut the door loudly behind her a groan was heard from behind the desk.

"Good morning to you to Mr Stark." Ellie said walking over to the desk

"Is it? Cause I don't think it is." Tony whispered harshly behind his sunglasses. Ellie dropped the files rather loudly onto Tony's desk. Tony flinched. "I take it you're a little mad at me?" Ellie picked up a remote off the desk and switched the windows off from tint. Tony hissed.

"No, what gives you that idea?" Ellie placed down the green abomination of a drink in front of him as well as the cinnamon roll and cookie. She moved around to the front of the desk again. "You need to sign all of those documents on the bottom and read through the proposition on top." Ellie slid the folders across in front of Tony.

"And if I don't?"

Ellie laughed. "Then you don't get the batteries for your remote back." Ellie walked out of the room.

"You are a cruel mistress!" Tony called from the office. Ellie shook her head and returned to her desk, sitting down and turning on her computer and putting her head set on.

"Good morning Miss Harlow." Came the smooth British voice.

"Good morning JARVIS. Could you do me a favour and slowly increase the brightness of the lights inside Tony's office roughly every two minutes?"

"Certainly Miss Harlow."

"Thank you Jarvis." Ellie sat back in her chair and sighed. It was going to be a long day.

/

It took Tony thirty minutes to finish all the paper work. He slammed the paper work down in front of her desk.

"Did they not have any ones with blue Mnm's?" He asked spilling crumbs over the paperwork.

"I don't think so." Ellie replied brushing off the crumbs from the folders returning to typing up a document on the computer. Tony continued to stand in front of her desk. Ellie sighed.

"Yes Mr Stark, what can I help you with?" She said putting on her best fake smile.

"I was wondering what meetings I had scheduled for today?" He said innocently sitting down on one of the chairs in front of her desk.

"You have one board meeting at 12, then another at 3. You also have a meeting scheduled at 2:30 to see Mr Rogers."

"Ah yes I forgot about that." Tony said playing with the predator bobble head on her desk.

"Is that all?"

"Can I not just sit here enjoying the company of my favourite assistant?" Tony said imitating the bobble head on the desk. The bopping was ceased by Ellie's hand. She sighed.

"Would you like to go down to the garage for an hour? I can shift the meeting at 12 to –"

"That would be wonderful Ellie! Call me in about two hours!" Tony called as he leapt from the chair and hurried to the elevator.

/

Tony emerged three hours later and returned to his office. This document seemed to never end. Ellie sighed and put her head in her hands. She still hadn't had her breakfast yet and it was 1:24. If she didn't get someone thing to eat soon somebody was going to die.

"Get up loser, we're going to get lunch."

"Oh thank God, Take your time Nat. I am starving." Ellie stood up from her desk and grabbed her bag.

"I would have been here sooner but Barton stopped by."

"Yeah I ran into him earlier." She walked up and knocked on Tony's door. Tony was in the middle of deconstruction some holographic blue print on the table in the middle of the room.

"Nat's taking me on my lunch break now. I'll be back in…"

"When we feel like it." Nat yelled from outside the office.

"Probably half an hour."

"Have fun sweetie, don't do anything I would." Tony yelled blowing a kiss her way.

"That doesn't leave us much Stark." Natasha said from behind Ellie.

"I'll bring you back something." Ellie said shutting the door behind her. The two headed towards the elevator. "Where are we going this time?" Ellie said pushing the ground floor button.

"That wanton place I was talking about last week." Nat replied. "Steve's gonna meet us there with Bucky."

"Hmm?" Ellie replied confused.

"Bucky? You remember? Do you listen to anything I tell you?"

"I don't know, sometimes when your mouth opens I just kinda zone out." Ellie laughed as Nat gave her a shove. "I think I remember you saying something. He was Steve's friend from before the war right?" Nat nodded.

"Yeah, he was there during the Hydra attack a while ago. Brainwashed and all that. I probably shouldn't be telling you all this, classified and all that. But Steve will end up telling you if I don't."

"I miss Steve! I haven't seen him in ages."

"Guess he's been busy with Bucky, trying to help him remember." Nat replied.

"That must be terrible, not to remember who you are or the things you've done."

"It is, try not to mention it though. Don't ruin the lunch." Ellie laughed.

"When have I ever?" She replied.

/

She remembered the first time she met Steve Rogers. She had absolutely no idea who he was. She had moved to New York after the bizarre alien attack on the city. Of course she had heard of these heroes during this time but not to a great extent. When she first met Rogers he looked like any other regular guy. Except for the bulging muscles and handsome face. He had come to have a meeting with Tony Stark at his home. Ellie had not seen or heard him enter the house. Stark was working on something in the basement and Ellie hadn't wanted to disturb him. She received a call from Pepper asking if she could put Tony on the phone seeming as she couldn't reach him. This meant he had his music up loud and asked JARVIS to block calls. She walked downstairs to the basement and punched in the code. When she walked in she heard two guys talking. Her heart skipped a beat when she thought that she had accidently let someone into Starks house uninvited. She turned around the corner to see Stark talking to a particularly tall blonde stranger.

"I'll see what I can do." She heard Stark say before he noticed her.

"Sorry to bother you Mr Stark but Peppers on the phone." Ellie said holding out her phone to Tony.

"Excuse me for a minute." Tony said leaving the room and Ellie alone with the stranger. And awkward moment of silence passed as they both watched him leave. The man turned to Ellie.

"Hi, I am Steve Rogers, friend of Tony's." He said extending his hand. Ellie reached out and shook it.

"Ellie Harlow, Tony's new assistant. I was scared for a moment, I'd thought I'd let in a stranger or paparazzi." She laughed. Rogers scratched the back of his neck.

"Yeah sorry about that, JARVIS let me in."

"No that's ok… Can I offer you a drink or something?" Ellie asked pointing up stairs.

"Oh no, I'm alright." Another moment of silence passed. "Soo, you from around here? Just the accent is uh, different."

"Oh, I am originally from Australia, moved here roughly a month ago." She replied.

"Australia? Wow, just a tad far. Why'd you move here?" He asked. Ellie looked around biting on her lip trying to figure out the best explanation. "It's alright, you don't have to tell me." Rogers smiled.

"It's ok, I moved for a fresh start. Leave stuff behind. You know all that jazz."

"Fair enough…. Made any friends yet?"

"A few around the office. Not really sure if Tony counts." Ellie laughed. "uh, oh and a woman named Natasha?"

"Oh, Natasha?" The name seemed to peek his interest. Ellie raised her eyebrow.

"Yeah, comes into the office every now and then. Do you know her?"

"Red hair? Yay big?" He said gesturing to around her height.

"Yeah sounds about right."

"Well I'm surprised we haven't met sooner!" he laughed.

"OH! You're the Rogers she's always talking about! Nice to finally meet you." Ellie said smile broadening.

"Oh gosh, that's never a good thing." Steve said shuffling round on his feet.

"it's ok she only tells me your deepest secrets and most embarrassing moments."

"Oh, so nothing too bad then?" They both laughed. "We should all hang out sometime?" Steve said rubbing his neck. "give you a proper welcome to the city?"

"That would be wonderful." Ellie replied. Steve smiled. With an exchange of numbers and a few messages to Nat, their friendship grew.

/

They arrived at the wanton place and walked inside. Nat chose a table of four in the back corner of the room.

"They should be here in a few minutes." Nat said pulling out her phone. Ellie looked over the menu. "Oh here they are now" Nat said waving over to them. Steve made his way over to the table with his friend in tow. Ellie stood up to hug Steve.

"Hey Steve!" Ellie said hugging him tightly.

"Hey El." Steve squeezed back. Nat stood up and gestured to the man behind Steve.

"And this is Steve's friend Bucky. You know the guy I was talking about."

"Only good things I hope." Steve muttered moving aside so Ellie could meet him. Ellie's smile froze on her face as her eyes met the steel blue of his.

"It's nice to meet you Ellie."


End file.
